The following is an excerpt from the February Harper’s Magazine [page 30].It is from actual recordings of senior German officers in captivity in Middlesex, England, sometime between 1942 and 1945….
CHOLTITZ: Would you kill Hitler too?
SCHLIEBEN: It’s very difficult to say; it might turn him into a martyr. I would hand him over to the Russians, to work in some Siberian mine or other. That would settle the matter.
CHOLTITZ: As long as the man lives, German youth will believe in his return and think only of resistance. He musn’t be surrounded by a Napoleonic halo of glory either – that is, exiled.
SCHLIEBEN: Would you kill him, then?
CHOLTITZ: Certainly. Death is no martyrdom. He should be photographed pleading for his life, and should be shown in a really bad light. He should be made to wear just a pullover, and to stand there as a criminal, with his hair cropped and so on. He should be killed, and the whole world should be told about it.
I agree with Choltitz.
My opinion can be quickly summarized.
← Bang!And not because I am in favor of killing someone.
But because I am in favor of not killing millions of other people!
Have a great Friday!
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That is a horrible argument to have to work out, isn't it? I'm not the killing type, but I can't help but agree with your reasoning. I just delight myself with the fact that he didn't get to be a slain hero, or a martyr, or even a prisoner who could one day return. No, he proved just what a slimy, vile and ultimately cowardly creep he was by killing himself. Too little, too late, but way better than the other alternatives, IMHO.
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